Ok guys, you all know that i h-a-t-e pinballs, but there comes a time in every arcade collector's life when you have to realize that no gameroom is really complete without at least one pinball. about one year ago i was contacted by toralf "time pilot". he told me about a german pinball collector who had one for sale which toralf though might be interesting for me. of course i said NO - what do i want with a pinball? PLUS the asking price was way too high! nevertheless, the notion of the game remained stuck somewhere in the back of my head where it grew from a tiny seed to something i wanted to have eventually. one year later, i contacted the seller again, the game was still available, but the price had dropped drastically .

school holidays + nice price = roadtrip alert!!!

since the seller's location was not just around the corner, i decided to make the pinball's pickup the icing on the cake and combine it with something i had planned for quite a while: a visit to germany's largest movie entertainment park!

here's what's coming up

almost 400 kilometers, ...

... which means i need to start early!

breakfast on board

lunch and dinner as well eh i mean payment for the seller

of course i won't be doing this roadtrip on my own! come on, what's a day at an amusement park without a travel companion? therefore i'm picking up by best friend charlotte aka wonder woman

the weather forecast for the day is perfect - clear skies and temperatures of up to 30° celcius!

short stop at a motorway service station for a cup of tea (charlotte's english side coming out here)

almost five hours later (because of a traffic jam), we're finally here! although this is an arcade forum, i've decided to share our day at the park with you guys - hope you don't mind!

here's a building / shop charlotte is interested in

and here's one more to my taste (i thought about stealing that sign )

unfortunately, not a single videogame inside, only cranes! what a disappointment

how about some rides?

"you will get wet!!!"

come fly with me ...

ever kissed a shark?

we decided to "go millionaire" this time and booked an all-inclusive arrangement, which means free drinks and food (bakery products, pizza, burgers, fries, salads, ice-cream, ...) all day long! man, i must have gained at least five kilograms in pure fat and sugar throughout the day (and i need a haircut desperately )

what's next? how about the freefall tower?

man, i'm scared (look at the faces of the other guys "on board")

up it goes!

where's ully, i can't see him any more ...

no wonder, i'm 60 meters high up in the air, ready to fall down at 90 km/h!!!

touchdown! look at our faces now

enough fun (and food) for the day - one last "goodbye shot" in the golden evening sun!

let's head over to the pinball guy (only 10 kilometers away) ...

to be continued ...

« Last Edit: August 07, 2011, 05:15:47 PM by DarthNuno »

Logged

all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

German beer + MP Tshirt = way to go man!!!Thanks for the report, I always joke with my girlfriend that the next thing I'm gonna buy is a big wheel to put in our garden.It's all about being able to own something that you're not supposed to have at home, like an arcade game... or a big wheel So I think the amusement park report is totally apropriate here.About the pinball: after decades of not caring at all about pinballs and regarding people who played them in arcade like retarded because to me you must be completely out of your mind to play pinball when you're surrounded by awesome arcade machines like Tron or Space Harrier or whatever at that time... well after years of that I asked my friend KID to lend me one of his pinballs for my gameroom because like you I think no gameroom is complete without a pinball... and I might even play it sometimes but mum's the word...

Yeps, a nice one to steal... I always thinking about that each time I see one sign like that (I know, it's bad )

Regarding your Moon Patrol t-shirt, did you got some reactions from other people who may recognized it?I remember having few reactions from visitors in the Universal Studio Park when I was wearing my 'Pac Man usual suspect' t-shirt, like 'Hey, nice t-shirt ...love it ...etc'

time to finish this roadtrip - there's a pinball still waiting to be picked up! with that being said, we arrive in the street where the seller is located ...

i guess the time has finally come to reveal what my first pinball is going to be!

drum rolls, please ...

not enough? more drum rolls!!!

louder!!!

open sesame - inside the garage we see this

ha, you guys didn't really think i was going to pick up a real pinball, did you? c'mon, i wouldn't take one even if it were offered to me for free. they will stay out of my gameroom - period! of course, a video pinball is something completely different, but i guess andré has already said enough about that beauty of a game.

the seller (whose name is markus) transports the cabinet outside where we will inspect it further

full frontal view - looking good so far!

the usual holes and scratches in the vinyl artwork on the sides

the game does have a backdoor, but the particle wood is swollen so that it doesn't fit 100% anymore. must have got wet at some point in time!

looking good inside, everything seems to be there

let's close it up for the loading process

looks like markus is a little bit worried whether the cabinet will fit into my car (but i know my car: it will!!!)

one final push

it's always the same story: the sellers are deeply impressed by the loading space of my car!

after loading the cabinet, markus mumbles something like "oh, i still have a nice little bonus for you" and wanders off into the distance ...

... only to return with this

the original manual (including all the schematics) along with a copy of the same thing

thanks dude, always great to have this!

i guess we're ready to travel back home again: the wings are in position!

last words: markus is indeed a real pinball collector, he has 4 of them in his gameroom and a couple more which he is planning on restoring. the video pinball was one of them, he got it a few years ago, but never got around to work on it. he told me the last time he turned it on he could hear sounds from the game, but got nothing on the screen. not too bad if you ask me! he recognized that my t-shirt is for a williams game, but didn't know moon patrol (and NO, noone asked my about that shirt all day long)!

nothing spectacular happened on our way home, we didn't even make a stop to grab something to eat / drink, we were still "loaded" from the amusement park orgy!

the final statistics

one country, four counties, 802 kilometers, 18 hours 48 minutes on the road - this roadtrip is OFFICIALLY OVER!

Logged

all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

I had some inside info so I knew already....congrats and welcome to the select club of VP owners !Be warned though:It's such a good "emulation" that you may not really like to play it

Looks to be in much better condition than mine... !

Would like to see a full pic of the PCB if possible.

By the way great pics of everything, great shirt. Pac Manis a lot more known today than MP of course so doesnt surprise me.

Of course the VP would fit your Astra....one big (almost) rectangular loading space ! And the VP is not that big really..I recently had a brand new Astra for a few days,and I HIGHLY doubt if any cab will fit in that Station ! These things all turn into "lifestyle" Stations which means much less rectangular and less space. Didn't like the new one...amazingly underpowered (freaking ECO engine) and extremely nervous steering on the high way. VERY sturdy body though...

Still was very glad to get back my trusty Oktavia, love that TD power And people even think that cabs won't fit in that one, they are always amazed.

Anyway yours crossed the 200.000 Km. !!! Well done !! Up to the 300.000 !!

You got me Ully, I really thought you found a full size pinball, that has something to do with an arcade videogame like Defender, Baby Pacman, etc.. Your amusement park pics are fantastic! Can't wait to see this cab running.